Method for managing an electronic-commerce shopping cart

ABSTRACT

The invention helps an on-line shopper maintain the proper relationship between primary items in a shopping cart and secondary items in the shopping cart, where secondary items are items that normally accompany the purchase of primary items. The server that provides the on-line shopping service awaits a shopper&#39;s commands. When a command is detected that indicates a change in an attribute of a primary item, the server checks the shopper&#39;s shopping cart to identify secondary items linked to the primary item whose attribute was changed. If a secondary item linked to the primary item is identified, the server then solicits the shopper&#39;s authorization to change a corresponding attribute of the secondary item. If the shopper grants authorization, the server changes the corresponding attribute of the secondary item accordingly. An item&#39;s attribute may be the quantity of the item in a shopping cart, the size of the item, the color of the item, the texture of the item, and so forth.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention applies to on-line Internet shopping, and moreparticularly to a method for managing and updating a shopping cartconveniently as an on-line customer adds, changes, and deletes itemsfrom the shopping cart.

BACKGROUND

On-line commerce is now an important part of our economy, mainly becauseof the efficiency and the ready convenience that on-line commerceprovides. As a general principle, ready convenience and good humanfactors go hand-in-hand. Moreover, each improvement in human factorsopens the use of electronic commerce to a larger segment of thepopulation.

Today, however, many would-be participants in electronic commerce(e-commerce) are limited by the capabilities of the computer systemsthey use to gain access to e-commerce web servers. This limitation isoften experienced, for example, by customers who shop on-line. Becausethe items to be purchased are not actually seen by the customer at thetime the items are selected—rather, the items are carried virtually inan abstract shopping cart—the customer is not able to keep track ofpurchases conveniently.

One way that the lack of visibility may confound a shopper involves thepurchase of linked items. Items are linked when the purchase of aprimary item, for example a computer printer, is normally coupled withthe purchase of a secondary item, for example a power cord for theprinter. When the shopper changes the quantity of a primary item in theshopping cart, for example revising the quantity of the order from fourprinters to six printers, the shopper must remember also to revise thequantity of the secondary item, here from four power cords to six.

If the shopper forgets to change an attribute of the secondary items inthe shopping cart in response to each change in a related attribute ofthe primary items, the shopper's order will not be filled as intended.As a result, the shopper will be disappointed by the on-line shoppingexperience, and perhaps be disappointed in the on-line merchant as well.

Thus there is a need for a way of helping an on-line shopper maintainthe proper relationship in the shopping cart between primary items andsecondary items that are normally ordered along with the primary items,so that the on-line merchant may fill the shopper's order as the shopperintends, and so that the shopper maintains confidence in the on-lineshopping process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention helps an on-line shopper maintain the properrelationship between primary items in a shopping cart and secondaryitems in the shopping cart, where secondary items are items thatnormally accompany the purchase of primary items. According to theinvention, the server that provides the on-line shopping service awaitsa shopper's commands. When a command is received that changes anattribute of a primary item, the server checks the shopper's shoppingcart to identify any secondary items that might be linked to the primaryitem being changed. If a secondary item linked to the primary item isidentified, the server may then solicit the shopper's authorization tochange the corresponding attribute of the secondary item. If the shoppergrants authorization, either explicitly or implicitly, the serverchanges the corresponding attribute of the secondary item.

In one embodiment of the invention, the attribute of the primary item isthe quantity of the primary item in the shopping cart. When the shopperchanges the quantity of the primary item in the shopping cart, theserver correspondingly changes the quantity of the secondary item. Forexample, when the shopper changes the contents of the shopping cart fromfour printers to six printers, the server changes the quantity of powercords in the shopping cart from four to six. Optionally, the server asksthe shopper for authorization to make the change. The shopper may grantauthorization explicitly in response to the server's request, orimplicitly by entering a “submit” command that may be responsive toeither the change in the quantity of the primary item or the proposedchange in the quantity of the secondary item.

In another embodiment of the invention, the attribute of the primaryitem in the shopping cart is the size of the primary item. Upon changeof the size and optionally upon grant of authorization by the shopper,the server changes the size of the secondary item to agree with the sizeof the primary item. For example, when the shopper changes the size of aphotograph in the shopping cart from five-by-seven inches toeight-by-ten inches, the server asks if it may change the size of amounting board or picture frame in the shopping cart accordingly. If theshopper authorizes the change, the server reconfigures the shopping cartto include a mounting board or picture frame of the proper size.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, the attribute of the primaryitem in the shopping cart is the color of the primary item. Upon changeof the color and optionally upon grant of authorization by the shopper,the server changes the color of the secondary item to agree with thecolor of the primary item. For example, when the shopper changes thecolor of a bath towel in the shopping cart from blue to green, theserver asks if it may change the color of a washcloth linked to the bathtowel in the shopping cart from blue to green. If the shopper authorizesthe change, the server reconfigures the shopping cart to include a greenwashcloth rather than a blue washcloth.

In another embodiment of the invention, the attribute of the primaryitem in the shopping cart is the presence or absence of the primaryitem. Upon removal of the primary item from the shopping cart andoptionally upon grant of authorization by the shopper, the serverremoves the secondary item from the shopping cart. For example, when theshopper removes a green bath towel from the shopping cart, the serverasks if it may remove a green washcloth associated with the towel in theshopping cart. If the shopper authorizes the removal, the server removesthe green washcloth from the shopping cart.

Thus, the present invention helps an on-line shopper to maintain theproper relationship in a shopping cart between primary items andsecondary items that are normally ordered along with the primary items,so that the on-line merchant may fill the shopper's order as the shopperintends, and so that the shopper maintains confidence in the on-lineshopping process. These and other aspects of the present invention willbe more fully appreciated when considered in light of the followingdetailed description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. shows an on-line shopper connected to an on-line merchant'sserver through the Internet.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary shopping cart of items gathered by the on-lineshopper of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows aspects of the operation of the server of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention helps an on-line shopper to maintain the properrelationship in a shopping cart between primary items and secondaryitems that are normally ordered along with the primary items, so thatthe on-line merchant may fill the shopper's order as the shopperintends, and so that the shopper maintains confidence in the on-lineshopping process.

FIG. 1 shows an environment suitable for application of the presentinvention. In FIG. 1, an on-line shopper 100 interacts with a client 110to access an on-line merchant 130 through the Internet 120 or othercommunication network. The client 110 may be a computer terminal, apersonal digital assistant, a cellular telephone with a wireless accessprotocol (WAP) browser, and so forth.

The shopper 100 uses shopping commands to assemble a shopping cart 200of items to be purchased from the merchant 130, as shown in FIG. 2,adding items to the shopping cart 200, changing items in the shoppingcart 200, and removing items from the shopping cart 200. Items in theshopping cart 200 are categorized here as primary items, two of which210 and 230 are shown in the exemplary shopping cart 200, secondaryitems, N+M of which are shown 220A through 220N and 240A through 240M inthe shopping cart 200, and stand-alone items, two of which 250 and 260are shown in the shopping cart 200.

The secondary items 220A through 220N and 240A through 240M are linkedto the primary items 210 and 230, where a link is established asexplained below. A secondary item is an item whose purchase is oftendependent upon the purchase of the linked primary item. For example,when the primary item “shoes” is purchased, the secondary items “socks”or “shoe polish” may often be purchased at the same time. Typically, theserver 140 will direct the attention of the shopper 100 to a secondaryitem upon selection of a primary item by the shopper 100. The on-linemerchant 130 decides which items are primary, which are secondary, andwhich are linked to which. The stand-alone items 250 and 260 shown inthe shopping cart 200 are items which the merchant 130 has not deemed tobe either primary or secondary items, or are secondary items that haveno antecedent primary items in the shopping cart 200.

The shopper 100 uses shopping commands to direct the server 140. Thesecommands may include, for example, “add item to shopping cart,” or“change item in shopping cart,” and “remove item from shopping cart,”where the particular item and command may be selected by a computermouse acting upon a web page presented to the shopper 100 by the client110. The web page upon which the mouse acts may be, for example, ashopping cart page, a product page that describes an item that may beadded to a shopping cart, and so forth, including herein any kind ofon-line shopping display such as a web page.

In response to the shopping commands, the server 140 helps the shopper100 manage the contents of the shopping cart 200, as shown in FIG. 3.The server 140 awaits a shopping command (step 300). When a shoppingcommand is not received, the server continues to wait (step 300).Otherwise (i.e., a shopping command is received), the server 140determines whether the shopping command alters an attribute of one ofthe primary items 210 and 230 in the shopping cart 200 (step 305). Whenno attribute of the primary items 210 and 230 is altered, the server 140awaits the arrival of the next shopping command (step 300).

Otherwise (i.e., the shopping command alters an attribute of a primaryitem in the shopping cart 200), the server 140 determines if the shopper100 is adding a new (i.e., heretofore absent) primary item to theshopping cart 200 (step 310). When the shopper 100 adds a new item tothe cart, the server 140 includes the added item in the shopping cart200 and may call the attention of the shopper 100 to items that arerelated to the primary items (step 315). The server 140 then determineswhether the shopper 100 desires to add one of the related items to theshopping cart 200 (step 320). If the shopper 100 desires to add one ofthe related items to the shopping cart 200, the server 140 includes therelated item in the shopping cart 200 as a secondary item linked to theprimary item (step 325). If the shopper 100 does not desire to add anyof the related items to the shopping cart, the server 140 returns toawait the next shopping command (step 300).

Otherwise (i.e., the shopper 100 is not adding a new primary item to theshopping cart 200, and is therefore by default changing an attribute ofa primary item already in the shopping cart 200), the server 140attempts to identify any secondary items then in the shopping cart 200that are linked to the primary item being changed (step 330). If no suchsecondary items are found, the server returns to await the next shoppingcommand (step 300).

Otherwise (i.e., a secondary item that is linked to the primary itembeing changed is found in the shopping cart 200), the server 140optionally solicits authorization of the shopper 100 to change thecorresponding attribute of the secondary item responsive to the changein the attribute of the primary item (step 335). If the shopper deniesauthorization, the server 140 returns to await the next shopping command(step 300). Otherwise (i.e., the shopper 100 grants authorization), theserver 140 changes the corresponding attribute of the secondary itemresponsive to the change in the attribute of the primary item (step340), and then returns to await the next shopping command (step 300).The shopper may grant authorization explicitly in response to theserver's request, or implicitly by entering a “submit” command that maybe responsive to either the change in the attribute of the primary itemor the proposed change in the attribute of the secondary item.

The attribute of the primary item and the corresponding attribute of thesecondary item may be, for example, the quantity of the item in theshopping cart 200, the size of the item, the color of the item, thetexture of the item, and so forth. The foregoing list of attributes isto be construed as illustrative of the present invention rather thanlimiting, and is included here for clarity of description rather thanlimitation.

In one embodiment of the invention, the corresponding attribute of thesecondary item is altered to match the attribute of the primary item(step 340). For example, if the quantity K of the primary item are inthe shopping cart 200, then the server 140 will put the quantity K ofthe secondary item into the shopping cart 200. Likewise, if the primaryitem is green, the secondary item will also be green, and if the size ofthe primary item is X, then the size of the secondary item isappropriate to match size X. The present invention is not so limited,however, and other rules may be used when altering the correspondingattribute of the secondary item in response to change in the attributeof the primary item. For example, two alkaline D-cells rather than onemay be added to the shopping cart 200 for every flashlight included inthe shopping cart 200, pink bath towels may be matched with greenwashcloths, and so forth, as the merchant 130 desires.

From the foregoing description, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the present invention helps an on-line shopper to maintain theproper relationship in a shopping cart between primary items andsecondary items that are normally ordered along with the primary items,so that the online merchant may fill the shopper's order as the shopperintends, and so that the shopper maintains confidence in the on-lineshopping process. The foregoing description, however, is illustrativerather than limiting, and the scope of the present invention is limitedonly by the following claims.

1. A method for managing an electronic commerce (e-commerce) shoppingcart relating to communication between a shopper and a server over acommunication network, said method comprising the steps of: determiningby the server whether a shopping command of the shopper has changed anattribute of a primary item in the shopping cart; after the server hasdetermined that the shopping command has changed the attribute of theprimary item in the shopping cart, identifying by the server a secondaryitem in the shopping cart linked to the primary item; and changing bythe server a corresponding attribute of the secondary item in responseto the change in the attribute of the primary item.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein after said identifying step and before said changingstep, said method further comprising the steps of: soliciting andreceiving by the server authorization from the shopper to change thecorresponding attribute of the secondary item in response to the changein the attribute of the primary item.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinsaid authorization is explicit.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein saidauthorization is implicit.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein before saiddetermining step, said method further comprising the step of: waiting bythe server for said shopping command and continuing to wait by theserver for said shopping command so long as said shopping command hasnot been received by the server.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein aftersaid determining step has determined that the shopping command haschanged the attribute of said primary item and before said identifyingstep, said method further comprising the steps of: ascertaining whetherthe primary item is a new primary item; and after said ascertaining hasascertained that no primary item is not said new primary item, thenperforming said identifying step.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theattribute of the primary item and the corresponding attribute of thesecondary item are a same attribute.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereinthe attribute of the primary item and the corresponding attribute of thesecondary item are different attributes.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the communication network comprises the Internet.
 10. The methodof claim 1, said determining, identifying, and changing steps beingperformed for a merchant of the primary item.
 11. A system, comprising aserver adapted to implement a method for managing an electronic commerce(e-commerce) shopping cart relating to communication between a shopperand a server over a communication network, said method comprising thesteps of: determining by the server whether a shopping command of theshopper has changed an attribute of a primary item in the shopping cart;after the server has determined that the shopping command has changedthe attribute of the primary item in the shopping cart, identifying bythe server a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primaryitem; and changing by the server a corresponding attribute of thesecondary item in response to the change in the attribute of the primaryitem.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein after said identifying stepand before said changing step, said method further comprising the stepof: soliciting and receiving by the server authorization from theshopper to change the corresponding attribute of the secondary item inresponse to the change in the attribute of the primary item.
 13. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein said authorization is explicit.
 14. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein said authorization is explicit.
 15. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein before said determining step, said methodfurther comprising the step of: waiting by the server for said shoppingcommand and continuing to wait by the server for said shopping commandso long as said shopping command has not been received by the server.16. The system of claim 11, wherein after said determining step hasdetermined that the shopping command has changed the attribute of saidprimary item and before said identifying step, said method furthercomprising the steps of: ascertaining whether the primary item is a newprimary item; and after said ascertaining has ascertained that theprimary item is not said new primary item, then performing saididentifying step.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the attribute ofthe primary item and the corresponding attribute of the secondary itemare a same attribute.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the attributeof the primary item and the corresponding attribute of the secondaryitem are different attributes.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein thecommunication network comprises the Internet.
 20. The system of claim11, said determining, identifying, and changing steps being performedfor a merchant of the primary item.